During a recent visit to France, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sent out a controversial tweet saying that terrorism is a “daily reality for Ukraine.” The tweet triggered vociferous condemnations for trying to tie Ukraine to the Paris tragedy, as well as essays and op-eds in the Ukrainian media defending Poroshenko’s comparison.

Poroshenko is both right and wrong. Certain areas of Ukraine have indeed been subjected to terrorism; the similarities with France, however, end there.

On January 24, Russian-backed separatists shelled the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, killing 31 civilians and injuring over 100. Mariupol is near the front lines, but had not seen active warfare for months; the fact that civilians had been blown apart while walking down the street in a sudden, unannounced attack certainly brings terrorism to mind.

Under normal circumstances, terrorism unites people. From New York to Boston to Madrid to Paris, images of bodies strewn on the ground are swiftly followed by images of renewed patriotism and national unity. The Russian-backed shelling of Mariupol should have turned it into the most patriotic, pro-Kiev city in Ukraine. Instead, its citizens just voted, in overwhelming fashion, in favor of the Opposition Bloc — a pro-Russia party. The pro-Kiev Petro Poroshenko Bloc didn’t win a single seat.

* * *

There’s nothing in the water in Mariupol: Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine’s largest city, had reelected Mayor Hennadiy Kernes — viewed as a symbol of pro-Russian intransigence — in a landslide. Odessa, another Russian-speaking region, and the site of heavy American investment and reform, refused to vote for the mayoral candidate backed by Mikheil Saakashvili, a favorite of Washington. Over the past year, underground pro-Russian cells have carried out dozens of bombings of ports, restaurants, rallies and transit hubs in Kharkiv and Odessa. (Last November, an explosion at a Kharkiv pub injured 11 people; an explosion at a unity rally in February killed four and injured 10, including a child.) And yet, the people keep voting for pro-Russian politicians.

Underground pro-Russian cells have carried out dozens of bombings … And yet, the people keep voting for pro-Russian politicians.

This is where Poroshenko’s analogy between eastern Ukraine and Paris falls short. Parisians march with “Je Suis Charlie” signs; eastern Ukrainians are bombed by pro-Russian rebels, and then vote for pro-Russian parties. There’s another region that exhibits a similar pattern, in which a local population continues to be blown apart, yet stubbornly sides with groups tied to the perpetrators. It’s called Palestine.

* * *

Beneath the veneer of yellow-and-blue banners stapled onto lamp posts in eastern Ukraine and essays assuring Westerners that Ukraine is a united nation lies a sobering reality — the Maidan revolution, as a post-election study surmised in the Washington Post, “failed to bridge Ukraine’s deep regional divides.”

Elections are far from the only sign of the entrenched resentment of eastern Ukrainians. A telling example of both the divide and the causes behind it is Kiev’s controversial decommunization law, which mandated the renaming of all Soviet streets and cities by the end of November.

Eastern Ukrainians have fought this centrally-imposed renaming “tooth and nail,” as an article by Radio Free Europe — certainly not a Moscow propaganda outlet — put it. Kharkiv residents have picketed attempted changes, with several meetings ending in violence.

Especially telling is Kharkivites’ resistance to naming anything after the Heavenly Hundred — those killed during the Maidan revolution which brought the current Kiev government to power.

Kharkiv is far from being the only holdout. Poll after poll in Dnipropetrovsk, the country’s third largest city, whose Soviet-tied name is on the chopping block, yielded the same result: Dnipropetrovsk “wants to keep it” as the New York Times bluntly summarized.

What Dnipropetrovsk wants doesn’t matter, however; according to the decommunization law, any places which remained unchanged after November 21 will be forcibly renamed by the Ukrainian parliament at the suggestion of the newly established (and rather Orwellian sounding) Institute of National Memory.

A police officer is at work at the site of an explosion in the shopping center of Roshen, a chain of confectionarys stores owned by Ukrainian president, on December 9, 2015 in Kharkiv. According to preliminary data of experts, an unknown person threw a grenade RGD-5. No one was injured in the explosion, police said. Photo by SERGEY BOBOK/AFP/Getty.

This standoff over harmless-looking names may sound overblown to Westerners; then again, most eastern Ukrainians wouldn’t understand all the fuss Americans are having over that harmless-looking Confederate flag hanging in South Carolina. To understand the way Kiev’s decision impacts Ukraine, simply imagine what would happen if the U.S. federal government were to start imposing changes to Robert E. Lee high school in Fairfax, or Harvey Milk Plaza in San Francisco.

A cursory survey of articles in the Western media shows how pervasive the disenfranchisement of eastern Ukrainians really is. “Poroshenko calls for elimination of Russian texts within documents,” said Radio Free Europe — if Canada ever attempted to do this with French, Quebec would erupt in rebellion. Foreign Policy magazine recently outlined how 1.5 million internally displaced people who have had their lives destroyed by the war were denied their right to vote by Kiev. An article in the Independent tells stories of war-ravaged families in government-controlled territory living on the verge of starvation.

* * *

From the perspective of many eastern Ukrainians, the changes happening in their country are not so much an exercise in democracy, but rather the imposition of a culture by a certain majority onto a regional minority. It’s no surprise that the minority is fighting back — even if it means voting for the very people who are bombing them.

The biggest winner of Kiev’s policy is Vladimir Putin. Every time Kiev sends in people to forcibly change local names or prevents eastern Ukrainians from voting, it pushes them toward Russia, ratcheting up the resentment. If Ukraine continues on this path, Moscow may well be able to step away because Kiev will be doing its job for it — and eastern Ukraine will turn into Europe’s West Bank.

Lev Golinkin is the author of “A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, a memoir of Soviet Ukraine” (Random House, 2014).

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Super Slav

What the author forgot to mention is that most Ukrainians have been bombed not by separatists but by the hands of Ukraine’s army and “volunteer” battalions.

Posted on 12/15/15 | 8:41 AM CEST

Tym

It took less than a minute for censorship patrol to delete my message, while deluded lies of Super Slav stay, who would guess. I’ll add politico to the list of propaganda rags.

Posted on 12/15/15 | 4:47 PM CEST

Leonard VERNON

One of the best explanations of what is going on in the Ukraine that I have read to date. This guy knows the territory.

Posted on 12/15/15 | 5:12 PM CEST

veth

What a bias article. Russian invaded and killed 8000 Ukrainians. Still 9000 Russian troops there, 2000 killed and Russia downed MH17. Russia must be warcompensation, as Ukraine demands. Even excuses for downing MH17 Russia does not.

Posted on 12/15/15 | 7:11 PM CEST

rick

I compoletly agree with “Leonard VERNON”

“One of the best explanations of what is going on in the Ukraine that I have read to date. This guy knows the territory.”

and I add
very rare to read articles like that on Anglo Saxon media

Posted on 12/15/15 | 7:37 PM CEST

Anon

“the impositionof a culture by a certain majority onto a regional minority”

Maybe the key word here is ‘culture’. Yes there is an attempt to ‘impose’ a culture and that is the culture of the modern western world – including democracy, freedom of the press, some kind of law and order and an reasonably non-corrupt bureaucracy. Of course it doesn’t much yet exist in Kiev and always falls short generally in the western world. But the aspiration is far better than the conservative and mindless retention of the soviet past. Ukraine is demanding of these regions that they came to terms with the past, see it for what it was and not remain captive to it. Otherwise they are only a drag on what Ukraine wants to become.

Posted on 12/15/15 | 8:58 PM CEST

zingma

@Anon, if they’re a drag, Ukraine should let them go. Or if Ukraine “wants to be” a country that forcefully re-educates its people into forgetting their history, then maybe a re-evaluation of what exactly it wants to be is in order. The analogy with the American South is a good one – there were plenty of things wrong with the South and what it stood for. Doesn’t mean painting it exclusively in black and trying to force people to forget their history is the way to go about it.

Posted on 12/16/15 | 12:55 PM CEST

Aidar

Rebels never bomb the Mariupol. Residents of Mariupol speak about it, them bombs the Ukrainian troops, there are many indications of residents of Mariupol in YouTube, on the last elections Poroshenko’s party received 1,7% of votes.

Posted on 12/16/15 | 1:39 PM CEST

Irina

“eastern Ukrainians are bombed by pro-Russian rebels”

pro-Russian rebels bomb western Ukrainien polizeis who have been sent to Kharkov for riots suppression. How is it connected to “eastern Ukrainiens”?